Fort Bend ISD is continuing to seek stakeholder feedback and develop plans for next school year, Superintendent Charles Dupre and district staff said at the June 8 board of trustees meeting.

“For the board and anyone listening I just have to [say], I cannot adequately express how complex this planning effort is,” Dupre said during the meeting.

Stephanie Williams, FBISD’s executive director of organizational transformation, said the district is still planning for three possible formats school might take in the fall: traditional, online or hybrid.

“In defining these models, we recognize that there's no real going back to normal,” Williams said.

When considering each model, she said staff is looking at expectations for teachers and students, safety, social and emotional needs, feasibility from an operations standpoint and potential modifications to the school calendar.



“We know that Fort Bend ISD will come out of the pandemic stronger, that our instructional delivery models will reflect our lessons learned, and that most of all the innovative practices that have emerged will become part of who we are as a district,” Williams said.

The district has conducted a survey of students, parents and teachers asking about potential improvements to online learning, possible hybrid models and the school calendar, according to Williams. Focus groups are also ongoing, she said.

“We believe that the information gathered from the survey and the focus groups will help to inform the decisions that lie ahead for the district," Williams said. "While the design team is busy visualizing a tomorrow that we can't quite draw up yet, we're trying to look at the options that allow Fort Bend ISD the opportunity to transition quickly in order to continue the continuity of learning for all students.”


Dupre said FBISD is also waiting for guidelines from the Texas Education Agency, including a decision about how average daily attendance—a key metric used for determining school funding—will be calculated.


Trustee Grayle James asked for Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath to consider access to education and equity when making decisions about the upcoming school year.

“I have a message for the commissioner in case any of you happen to be talking to him,” James said. “If you could mention that he could really support us if he was supporting access and availability to education, and focusing on helping all kids gain access and appropriate equity in that education, rather than focusing on monitoring and assessing us and creating hurdles for us.”

Dupre said the district does not anticipate changing the Aug. 12 start date for the fall semester, but that there may be other modifications to the school calendar.

Any changes to the school calendar would come before the board of trustees for a vote. This action will most likely occur at the scheduled July board meeting, the early August board meeting or a called meeting during that time frame, Dupre said.


“Our hardest work is still ahead of us as we try to plan and execute for this fall,” Dupre said. “We basically have at this point six weeks to plan the launch of the new school year. Everyone feels that overwhelming feeling.”